- Senator John Cornyn’s campaign has released a new video highlighting several scandals that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been embroiled in over the past decade
- President Trump has said he will soon be making an endorsement in the race between Cornyn and Paxton, and expects the candidate he does not endorse to drop out
- Amid speculation that Trump will endorse Cornyn, a social media influencer effort supporting Paxton quickly emerged
With President Trump soon to weigh in with an endorsement in Texas’ United States Senate race, Senator John Cornyn’s campaign has released a new video detailing the various scandals that have beset Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Paxton’s 2015 securities fraud charges, allegations of improprieties relating to mortgages for rental properties, extramarital affairs, allegations of abuse of office raised by senior staff members, and a more than $6 million judgment against the Office of the Attorney General obtained by the whistleblowers are among the controversies highlighted in the Cornyn campaign’s video.
“This is the record. Felony indictments. Years of delay. An affair that compromised judgment. An Attorney General’s office used for personal benefit. Whistleblowers fired. Taxpayers forced to pay. And a final legal position that speaks for itself. This is how Ken Paxton became crooked Ken Paxton.”
Cornyn’s video comes as President Trump will soon weigh in on the race with an endorsement, with the expectation that the candidate he does not endorse will drop out to avoid a costly runoff election.
In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, President Trump wrote, “The Republican Primary Race for the United States Senate in the Great State of Texas, a State I LOVE and won 3 times in Record Numbers (the HIGHEST vote ever recorded, by far!!!), cannot, for the good of the Party, and our Country, itself, be allowed to go on any longer. IT MUST STOP NOW! We have an easy to beat, Radical Left Opponent, and we have to TOTALLY FOCUS on putting him away, quickly and decisively! Both John and Ken ran great races, but not good enough. Now, this one, must be PERFECT! My Endorsements within the Republican Party have been virtually insurmountable! It is such an honor to realize and say that almost everyone I Endorse WINS, and wins by a lot, especially in Texas! I will be making my Endorsement soon, and will be asking the candidate that I don’t Endorse to immediately DROP OUT OF THE RACE! Is that fair? We must win in November!!! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP”
Since Trump’s post, speculation has run rampant that Trump is on the verge of endorsing Senator Cornyn for re-election. In response to that speculation, a bevy of media influencers – including several with a history of making posts in exchange for payment – rushed to promote Paxton’s candidacy in a runoff and urged him not to drop out of the race.
“The influencers have received their instructions,” remarked former Texas State Representative Matt Schaefer in response to Pro-Paxton tweets by several social media influencers.
Trump has made public comments supportive of Cornyn since Tuesday’s Primary, where Cornyn earned a first-place finish.
“Cornyn is a very underrated person. He was supposed to lose by ten points and he won. He’s a good man,” Trump told Garrett Haake of NBC News.
